Need your help on some music gifts for chrimbo as anything other than house & techno I'm stuffed for music knowledge

I need to expand my Mrs frankly f**k awful music collection. She likes Adele etc (I know ) but need to get her some other not so popular stuff to broaden her horizons.
So I'm probably thinking whining bint with a guitar kind of stuff.

Sort of picked out the following:

Sia
Tina Dico
Emma's Imagination
Alice Gold
Lissie
Amy LaVere

Any good? Any recommends?

Thanks in advance, know you won't let me down!

Sia is excellent.

Cat Power is a particular favourite of mine.
Lisa Hannigan a bit soft, easy listening kind of stuff, but beautiful voice.
Anna Calvi bird with a guitar and attitude (mercury nominated this year)
Austra sounds a bit like Florence and the Machine (but in tune)
Bat for Lashes a bit digital(ish). Bit different. Not really whining guitarist though.
Little Birdy Aussie. Pretty good IMO
Warpaint couple of girls (I think). Warbling is their forte.

PJ Harvey and Laura Marling are two more obvious ones (so not exactly "not so popular").

Cheers Zim, will check

The above mentioned Laura Marling is a good choice?

Cheers fellas

Maria Mckee also well worth a dabble.

A Fine Frenzy
Lykke Li
Emiliana Torrini
PJ Harvey
Laura Cantrell
Regina Spektor

It's got to be Dido as it's Noel

This could become my favourite thread.

What about the new Kate Bush album?

St Vincent - Strange Mercy
Feist - Metals
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I May See
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

Would also back a lot of what Zim said, especially Warpaint and Cat Power and Unc.si's recommendation of Lykke Li and Regina Spektor

From 2011:
Laura Marling is the obvious choice; also Lisa Hannigan's new album Passenger, both already mentioned. The new Florence + the Machine album Ceremonials has a bigger, stadium sound, with all her bum notes autotuned away. The Civil Wars' album Barton Hollow offers gentle harmonies between a bloke and a girl, very tasteful. For something a bit more edgy I'd recommend EMA's Past Life, Martyred Saints or, really out there, Tune-Yards' WHOKILL. Also worth listening to: Kina Grannis (beautiful voice, late-night music); Keren Ann (great songs); The Pierces (alt country); and Little Dragon (Swedish electronica)

Adele to Tune-Yards is quite a big step Billy

I've learned over the past few years with recommending music that it is better to do it in gradual stages or the recommendation could become lost. Or, I could just be talking out my arse.

P.S. I do adore Tune-Yards.

It would help if we knew what else Mrs Latic likes apart from "Adele etc". She might find Laura Marling boring...

Her taste is pretty much pop poo, X-factor etc
Hence the thread really want to broaden the music horizons a little so nothing too experimental is what I am after.
Loving the contributions, will check them all out later in the week when I am off shift.

4 girls. They are kind of the strange offspring of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Pearces.

I would also recommend Lykke Li, PJ Harvey and Laura Marling bu I don't think any would appeal to an Adele / X Factor fan. Her ears are probably beyond redemption.

Florence (not my taste) and Laura are probably the best two to start with if you think there is a chance she can be saved.

Hopefully

There is always Jessie J. Her album is quite good and commercial and only occassionally annoyingly poppy. Far more listenable than the sappy cheesefest that is Adele.

Agree that Jessie J is a good compromise. Also have a listen to Memoirs, an album from 2010 by Rox, a young south Londoner (half-Jamaican, half-Iranian). Shades of Amy Winehouse, Adele and Duffy, and produced by Al Shux (who co-wrote Empire State of Mind). It's quality stuff, and I reckon your missus will like it. And don't forget Janelle Monae – The Archandroid, also from 2010. Fantastically inventive R&B debut which ventures into rock, hip hop, soul, disco, you name it, but very accesssible too.

Paloma Faith's is another very good option. Quality stuff and commercial without failing the Adele Cheddar Test.

OK - if nothing too experimental then of the ones on my list I'd probably try A Fine Frenzy first. Bomb in a Birdcage is a couple of years old but good and pretty poppy. Think she's working on a new album but will be next yr before it's released.

Second Jessie J - surprisingly good, and of course Janelle Monae is a class act (Thought her Glastonbury performance was fantastic).

She might like Regina Spektor's 'Far' or 'Begin to Hope' as well (again, a couple of years old - new album recorded but not out yet) - they're pretty commercial sounding.

Thirded, although I think 'Do It Like A Dude' remains comfortably the best track that she's released to date:



Have to say that Rihanna is by far my favourite of the current crop of female artists...but I suspect she's already on Mrs Latic's playlists ...

There is also nothing wrong with Suzzane Vega, Joni Mitchell, Carol King or Janis Ian except that Mrs Latic may hate them.

Has Tori Amos been given a mention on this thread ...

No, I was thinking 'current'. Tori is still making music but, like most of the world, I'm not buying it or hearing it.

First album is a bit special. Get that or a greatest hits if there is such a thing.

Her new stuff isn't on my radar but still listen to her older material now & then, think a greatest hits album is a good shout as our recommendations don't necessarily need to be current...

This also applies to Alanis Morissette (who I don't think has had a mention either)...

Oops, also forgot to give Ida Maria a mention: